JuanGuzman
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This article was posted 4:04 eastern on Si.com 2hours and 21 minutes before Devin Hester returned the opening kick for a touchdown.
Bad news for Bears?Soggy field could make return man Hester non-factor
Posted: Sunday February 4, 2007 4:04PM; Updated: Sunday February 4, 2007 4:04PM
MIAMI -- As it became apparent in the runup to Super Bowl XLI that this might be a mudder's day, the prevailing theory in the press was that a bad field would favor the Bears. The Bears are used to playing in muck, the smart money said, while the Colts were at their best on a fast track.
Both premises are true. Both premises do not lead to the right answer, however.
As I take my seat in the press area three hours before gametime, I notice one thing down on the Dolphin Stadium field: It's uncovered. At an NBC brunch this morning, Andrea Kremer, who'd been at the stadium doing a live shot for the Today show, told me the field, for some reason, was not covered as steady rain fell.
"The field was not covered overnight,'' Steelers PR man Dave Lockett reported. "It was not covered by design.''
Why have a tarp at all if, on a morning when significant rain is falling, that tarp is not used?
Now, I guess the league thinks the drainage system on the field is fine. It had better be. I asked Cris Carter, who had a cup of coffee with the Dolphins four years ago, and whose son played on the Dolphin Stadium turf, if he thought this would be a factor. "No,'' he said in his car on the way to the game with his family. "This field has the best drainage system in the world. When my son played his playoff game on that field, it had rained all day, and there was another game before his. And the field was beautiful. I don't think it'll be a factor.''
If it is, the player a slow track will hurt the most is Chicago kick- and punt-returner Devin Hester. You saw what happened in the two Bears' playoff wins, over Seattle and New Orleans. Hester, on a slippery pitch, was a total non-factor -- and this comes after a regular season during which he returned five kicks and punts combined for touchdowns. For the HBO Inside the NFL show this week, I asked Bill Cowher about the five most important factors that would decide the outcome of Bears-Colts. One, he was sure, would be whether the Colts could neutralize Hester by directionally kicking off and punting. He said Adam Vinatieri should either pop his kickoffs up to the 15, giving the kick coverage time to get to about the 25-yard line before Hester can move, or he should kick to the pylon at either end of the goal line. The worst thing that could happen, Cowher said, is that the kick would go out of bounds and the Bears get the ball at the 40. "I'd rather take the chance on Rex Grossman driving it 60 yards on me than giving the ball to Devin Hester in an open field,'' Cowher said.
But if the field is slippery, it'll be interesting to see if Colts coach Tony Dungy and special teams coach Russ Purnell will change whatever they'd planned to do regarding Hester. That'll be the biggest story of a rainy first quarter of this game.
Should be a good one. We'll see if the field becomes a big factor or none at all. It would be a huge factor if Hester, for the third straight game, will be eliminated as a factor before the game even starts.
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Give new meaning to; "Nobody Circles the Wagons like the Buffalo Bills"
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the league was not happy and frankly embarrassed with what happened in the hutch/burleson deals last year, and the vikes and hawks were called out for it behind closed doors in front of other organizations.......these types of clauses will NOT happen in contracts again and the spirit of the rule will be honored going forward, you can count on it.......retaining nate with the T-tag is very possible, if ralph is willing to shell out the cash
Source?????? What your saying sounds more like your opinion
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Although looking at that list, who would have thought Pittsburgh would beat out Washington for lowest cap room?And they are yet to re-sign Big Ben and Troy Polamalu, their cornerstones on Offense and defense.
Glad to see Pittsburgh is somewhat handcuffed by the cap. I would like to see the Bills make an offer at Pitt's Restricted Free Agent Max Starks and move him inside to G.
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Transition Tag is were there going with this....NATE has said he would be happy to return to Buffalo aslong as the money is right....thats exactly what the T-tag gives us ...the right to match.....
For arguments sake: Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins offer Nate a contract of 6 yrs 50 Million which he accepts, the Bills have the right to match it because we tagged Nate with the Transitonal Player Tag and have the cap space. However, the language of the contract cointains a poison pill similar to the Steve Hutchinson/Nate Burleson arrangement. eg. Poison Pill stipulates Nate Clements contract becomes fully gauranteed for all 50 million if he plays more than 3 games at orchard park stadium or something like that. Thus making it impossible for the Bills to re-sign him unless the Bills want to gaurantee the contract (which no team in their rigth mind would do). These poison pills have already stood up under arbitration challenges and set a precedent that makes the original objective of the Transitional Player Tag obsolete. In fact a team attempting to sign another teams Transitional Player would be idiots if they didn't include such a poison pill.
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You have to do whats best for your business and if tagging Nate is what needs to be done to improve your team, you do it.
The irony is that tagging Nate might in fact be worse for business. NFL players sympathize with each others opportunity to set themselves and their families for generations. If the Bills re-neg on a negotiation that appeared to be in good faith; Nate Clements would hold out and moreover current players on the Bills roster and around the league would lose respect for the Bills organization. The patriots have gotten away with stuff like this in recent years but its easier to re-build your reputation when your winning Superbowls.
As for the tagging Nate with the Transitional Player Tag it simply gives us seven days to match the Best offer Nate Clements recieves. If we choose not to match the offer we recieve no compensation whatsoever. While at first glance the Transitional Player Tag might may appear to be an effective way to retain a free agent as long as we are sufficiently under the cap (which we are). However, last years Steve Hutchinson/Poison Pill/Seahawks-Vikings has set a precedent the renders the original intentions of the Transitional Tag useless. If you remembr Vikings in the language of contract stated that if Steve Hutchinson was not the highest paid lineman on his team the entire 49M contract was guaranteed. Since the Seahawks were already paying Walter Jones more they couldn't match the contract unless they wanted to gaurantee the entirety of the salary. IMO since there was arbitration hearing on the legality of the vikings poison pills and the judge sided with the Vikings - - the Transitional Player Tag is effectively DOA.
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I watched a bit of NFL network today and they had the Senior Bowl practices going on on. Anyway Amobi Okoye defintely look more like a speed defensive tackle in his one on ones he favoured finess rushes using spin moves both times.
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Rosenhaus is a phenomenal agent -- one thing that he understands (that many of his peers don't) is that holding out hurts the client more than it helps them.
Is that Sarcasm? If it is than i apologize in advance for this reply but in fact the inverse is true: Drew Rosenhaus is known for having players hold out or threaten to hold out. Im thinking TO and Javon Walker, Fred Taylor (currently dissapointed the jags didn't enter into negotiations with him prior to the off-season) ditto for London Fletcher those are just the ones off the top of my head but he is know for aggressive negotiation tactics in which he tries to have his players compensated if they performance exceeds what the team is "paying for" his whole mantra is that if a team can cut a player who is making too much money and underperforming than the player who is playing really well for not much money should be able to force his team into compensating him for it.
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Like Most WR's his draft status will be highly influenced by his testing #'s but I defintly think he has higher top end speed than Jarret. Factor in his youth and I would put him as the #2 Wide reciever prospect behind Cal Johnson although I think most boards have him as the #4 reciever. No way he falls to the second round.
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Now, as to whom to draft afetr clements is signed, WR is an area where a 1st rounder could make a big deal BTW - Drew Bennett is a FA this year and fits like a glove alongside Lee as a #2 WR - he is TALL, 6' 5", and has hands of glue - a fantastic compliment to Evans' speed.
Titans are 40 Million under the cap, im not sure if they intend to resign Bennett but they have a lot of money to spend and could easily match any offer the bills come up with for him. IM just saying Bennet's case he is not going to be a cap casualty in Tennesee, because they have a lot of money left to spend.
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I think Clements is a good but far from great Corner but I dont want the Bills to resign him to the kind of money he wants. I would rather go with Youboty or someone else at Corner and have the Bills go after as many lineman as they can on both sides of the ball
Nate Clements would make my top 5 corners' in the NFL list. He is entering his prime, can cover 1 on 1 and in Perry Fewell's Cover 2 scheme. Corner is a tough position to evaluate because you have to possess knowledge as to what defensive play was called before you can evaluate who messed up. But i would put Nate Clements in that select group of corners just below Champ Bailey: Guys like Rashean Mathis, Terrence Newman, Chris McAlister, Nathan Vasher, Lito Sheppard. ( I excluded old guys like Ronde barber and Ty Law, or overated guys like Deangelo Fall altough Give Hall a couple years and he will a great one)
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Only if we are sure that we can get the guy we want at the later pick. If last year shows us anything its that Levy and the Boys are committed to getting "The GUY" regardless of the draft position eg. Drafting Whitner when a lot of experts thought we could trade down & still get him or trading up to get McCargo when many felt he would be available in the second round.
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LinkLouisville running back Michael Bush will announce Tuesday he plans to declare for the NFL draft.Bush, who broke his right leg against Kentucky in September after rushing for 128 yards and 3 TDs, had the option of entering the draft or taking a medical redshirt from the NCAA. He is expected to make the announcement at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Bush ran for an NCAA-leading 23 touchdowns as a junior in 2005.
I have no idea where a guy like him ranks among rb's coming off breaking his leg. But he is bigback with a unique set of skills. IMO he is better than Kenny Irons, I would probably rate him higher than lynch but its a toss up.
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Michigan defensive tackle Alan Branch is expected to enter the NFL draft after reports he hasn't registered for any spring classes.
Branch could be a top ten pick in April's draft. The 6-6, 330 pound tackle is immovable on the inside of the defensive line. His size and strength allows him to hold his ground and clog running lanes. Branch is also a very good athlete for his size and shows the ability to get around blocks.
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My view point would be that that our interior lineman eg. Fowler, Gandy and Preston are all finesse blocking o-lineman while there is nothing inherantly wrong with a finesse blocker having all three at interior positions means the bills are often physically overmatched by their defensive counterparts. What we need is a big mauling gaurd who can just manhandle people on occaision. I don't care if he messes up once and a while in pass protection. SOmething in the mold of a Shawn Andrews Vince Manuwai, Logan Mankins ( I know thats high expectations - but if it means using a 1st or second rd pick to get a Franchise interior O-lineman i am on board. ) A RFA I like is Max Starks he is 6"8 337 he has played R. tackle the past couple years with the steelers - although he played a lot of Guard in college. He struggles a bit in pass protection but when he gets his hands on you he just a pure drive blocker who would open up a lot of holes in the running game.
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Kelsay/Denney/Hargrove- I'd give these guys an A. They had a combined 12 sacks. Denney is a high motor guy who is everywhere (54 tackles). Kelsay is another high motor guy (5.5 sacks). I think Marv made an excellent move in getting Anthony Hargrove for only a 5th round pick! He is young (23), he works hard, and he is one of the most entusiastic players I have ever seen! I think this guy will be a stud for years to come. PLAN- Don't resign Kelsay, the Bills are fine with Hargrove and Denney.
Levy gets the credit for actually pulling the deal. But give Bill Kolar (bill's d-line coach and Hargroves old coach in St louis) credit for noticing Hargrove went A.W.O.L in St Louis and telling front office that the kid was a player and would be good addition to the squad. I really like what I saw from Hargrove and with Denny's improved play this year the bills have solid DE rotation to work with. As a side note heading into the season i was really concerned about the Bill's DE's situation especially considering the ineffective DT's we have. But all things considered the DE were a real pleasant surprisefor me this year.
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Put me in the category O-line help as opposed drafting a big receiver with their 1st rd pick. Although, One guy i haven't heard mentioned on this Board is Sidney Rice, WR, South Carolina although he is only a sophmore he is draft eligible this year and if he comes out this year he would be IMO the #2 wide reciever prospect ahead of Jarret and Ted Ginn jr. Lastly I would add that im not sure if Jarret's skills suit Fairchild's gameplan, aside from Lee Evans strechching the field Fairchild had the recievers running a lot of double move routes eg. Smash Outs or fake running the out spin back to the middle on a curl pattern. These routes require a lot of agility and elusiveness and i wonder if a big tall physical receiver would be mis-used by our system.
I think what Bills need though is just a Big Mauling Gaurd. Gandy got owned all year at the point of attack. If we could get someone in the mold of a Shawn Andrews (eagles) or Vince Manuwai (jags) just a big beast with a mean streak i think it could do wonders for the running game (mcgahee wouldn't have to kitty foot up the middle trying to use his vision to find a hole because mike gandy is pushed back 2 yards in the backfield - we could actually open up some legitimate holes for him). I find it difficult to evaluate interior lineman but i understand Justin Blalock is rated as the best interior O-lineman.
Its pretty Futile to declare who the team should draft prior to both FA and the Combine but if we could move down in the Draft and End up with some combination of Sidney Rice and a Run blocking gaurd and a defensive back who step in and play nickle position if asked i would be an ideal draft for me.
Giants's GM tampered
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Tampering Jerry